-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The first clue was a boat floating in the ocean with no one on board .

So teams of rescuers took off , unsure of they were looking for when one crew saw the unmistakeable second clue .

There on a sandbar were three huge letters -- S.O.S.

And there on a nearby rocky island were five people on a rocky outcrop off the northeastern coast of Australia , happy to see a helicopter after eight hours of waiting .

The incident occurred Monday when five people were snorkeling in the Pacific Ocean . They anchored their boat near the sandbar , the Courier-Mail newspaper of Brisbane reported , but the boat drifted away after its anchor broke .

They stamped out a large distress signal in the sand , but they knew it was only a matter of time before the tide claimed the signal .

The rocks were high enough , but the group had no phones or food , which floated away with the boat .

`` We were a bit -LRB- sun -RRB- burned and it would have been fairly cold -LRB- if they had to stay out through the night -RRB- , '' Lyn Forbes-Smith told The Courier-Mail . She said they had gone diving at 8 a.m. and were picked up about 4 p.m. .

A helicopter rescue crew from Central Queensland took off and after an hour spotted the SOS .

`` We did two sweeps and then when we came across some guys on the rocks and we saw SOS written in the sand so we knew it was them straight away , '' crew member Damien Kross told Seven Network . `` It was actually quite good because we knew we found them . ''

By the time the helicopter got there , the water level had made it impossible to send a boat in for a rescue attempt .

The crew used a winch and basket to bring the three men and two women into the helicopter . Kross said the five were in good spirits despite being a little dehydrated .

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Five people were snorkeling off northeastern coast of Australia when boat got away

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They made a giant SOS on a sandbar and retreated to a rocky outcrop

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Worried tide would wash away their message , helicopter crew finds them

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They were lifted up to the helicopter in a basket rescue